After Dianne Buswell takes to Instagram explaining how to say her new baby’s name, an expert reveals the most commonly mispronounced baby names (including some very popular choices)
Strictly star Dianne Buswell recently gave birth to her first child with Joe Sugg, and has taken to her Instagram Stories to reveal how his unusual name is pronounced.
Sharing a sweet photo of her holding the newborn’s hand, she wrote: ‘Bowden Sugg. (Pronounced Bow like How not Bow like Row… hopefully that makes sense)’.
Buswell is certainly not the first parent to find herself explaining how to say her new child’s name. Even if the pronunciation feels obvious to those who gave the name, you can hear your new baby’s being said in a doctor’s waiting room and suddenly realise not everyone has the same idea.
So which names are the most commonly mispronounced (even if they happen to be extremely popular)? One person who knows it baby name expert SJ Strum, the author of Baby Name Envy. She says you shouldn’t be necessarily be put off by a hard-to-say name when it comes to naming your child, but it is worth considering it carefully.
SJ Strum says says you shouldn’t be necessarily be put off by a hard-to-say name when it comes to naming your child.
‘If you love a name for your baby but find people mispronounce it, have a think about if you love it enough to keep correcting people. My daughter is Evelina – pronounced Ever-Lee-Nah – and she often gets called Eeva at the beginning, Evelyn and quite often Evangeline. But I adore her name and don’t mind correcting people, who are always happy to hear how to say it and get it right.’
‘However, if you really dislike correcting people or feel it will be a hurdle for your child, maybe side-step one of these names in favour of something more phonetic.
‘One good hack is to try the name out at the coffee shop when they ask for your name; drop in Bodhi or Esme and see how they call it out and spell it. It gives a good indication of how tricky it will be in everyday life.
‘Some names also change around the world: so Craig becomes Creg in America, Graeme is one syllable Gram and in some States Gary is Gerry to rhyme with Terry.’
if you really dislike correcting people or feel it will be a hurdle for your child, maybe side-step one of these names in favour of something more phonetic, says SJ.
The most commonly mispronounced girls’ names
- Esme – Is it Es-may or Es-mee? It depends on the wearer as can be pronounced either way.
- Madeleine – Is it Mada-lyn or Mada-line?
- Hallie – Often gets mispronounced as Hayley.
- Andrea – An-dree-a or An-dray-a? You decide!
- Elle – It’s one syllable but often get Ell-Ee
- Anais – Probably one of the harder names to pronounce: the S is silent so it’s pronounced -An-Ay not Anays
- Mia – Is it MeeA or MyA? They are two different names with Maya having the second pronunciation.
- Naomi – The O is often missed out by people saying Nayu-Me.
The most commonly mispronounced boys’ names
- Louis – The S is silent unlike Lewis.
- Seamus – A difficult one, pronounced Shay-Mus.
- Beau – Pronounced Bow, the French word for beautiful can cause confusion because some think that it should be read as per the English – biew to rhyme with view.
- Rhys – This traditional name pronounced Reece troubles some people who read it as Rice or Rise.
- Micha – This biblical boy name is trending but it’s pronounced My-Kuh not Mee-ka.
